Blockade of Nassau

The Blockade of Nassau (22 July 1718) was a naval blockade set up by the British Royal Navy to curb piracy in the Caribbean Sea and recapture the port of Nassau from the "Republic of Pirates". The Royal Navy fleet, commanded by Governor of the Bahamas Woodes Rogers and Commodore Peter Chamberlaine, besieged the port city and extended an offer of the King's pardon to all pirates who wished to remain free men. The pirates Edward Kenway, Charles Vane, and Jack Rackham broke out of the blockade by using the ship Royal Phoenix as a fireship, returning to lives of piracy; however, the British forced the other pirates of Nassau to surrender, either hanging them or allowing those who had accepted the pardon to return to England penniless but free.

Pirate republic
The port city of Nassau in the Bahamas was founded by England in 1695, named for the House of Nassau, to which King William III of England belonged. The port was attacked by Spain and France in 1703 during the War of the Spanish Succession, leading to the English abandoning the city. The abandoned port would become a pirate haven, as the seaborne criminals sought to establish a base from which they could pillage Spanish, French, and British, ships in the Caribbean Sea. In 1706, the pirates proclaimed the creation of the "Republic of Pirates", a utopian community that was led by several "governors"; the feared pirate Edward Thatch was named "Magistrate", making him the effective leader of the republic. The British tended to ignore the activities of the pirates of Nassau, who mostly targeted Spanish merchant ships sailing north from Cuba, east from New Spain, or south from Spanish Florida. In fact, many of the pirates - notably Benjamin Hornigold, Charles Vane, and Edward Kenway - had served as British privateers during the War of the Spanish Succession. Still, the pirates were concerned about King George I of Great Britain's plans for the recapture of Nassau, and they solved the problem by capturing the Spanish Navy galleon El Arca del Maestro, beaching it on Abaco Island, and stripping it of its cannon for use on the defenses of Nassau. The size of the pirate population on Nassau grew to 500, and the pirate haven would become more and more of a threat to the European powers as the Golden Age of Piracy reached its height.

Disease outbreak
In 1718, an outbreak of scurvy and syphilis in Nassau led to the pirate governors scurrying to find a solution to this new problem. As a pirate haven, Nassau did not have the services of any doctors, so the pirates had no choice but to search for medicine elsewhere. The cautious Benjamin Hornigold advised against any military actions, warning Thatch that the British would likely come to reclaim Nassau if provoked. Kenway agreed with Hornigold, and Kenway and Thatch sailed to the Florida coast, where Kenway intended to salvage medicine from the wrecks of the Spanish Treasure Fleet ships that had been sunk by the hurricane of 1715. Kenway found only expired medicine, so Thatch resolved to stealing the medicine by force. In April 1718, Thatch's flagship Queen Anne's Revenge attacked the British man o' war HMS Princess of London off Mariguana Island with the intent of stealing its cargo of medicine, and Hornigold's ship Benjamin was heavily damaged in the battle, while Thatch and his crewmate Stede Bonnet were nearly overwhelmed by a British landing party on the island itself; Kenway and his ship Jackdaw arrived to help, and Thatch and his men were rescued. They proceeded to attack HMS Princess of London as it tried to escape, and they succeeded in capturing it and looting its medicine supplies. Thatch's right-hand man, Israel Hands, discovered that the medicine crates came from Charles-Towne (now Charleston, South Carolina) in the Thirteen Colonies, and the pirates resolved to steal the medicine from the city itself.

Siege of Charles-Towne
In May 1718, a flotilla of pirate ships, spearheaded by Thatch's Queen Anne's Revenge, blockaded Charles-Towne in the Carolinas. Thatch attempted to force the governor to hand over the medicine, threatening to execute a number of prominent hostages such as local politician Samuel Wragg, but Governor Jonathan Wyatt refused to negotiate with the pirates. The pirates plundered ships entering and leaving the harbor for a week, and Edward Kenway later arrived with the Jackdaw to support Thatch's fleet. Kenway quietly infiltrated the port city, taking out the guards at river watchtowers before heading inland and tailing a rowboat of British Army soldiers to Governor Wyatt himself. Wyatt noticed Kenway and sounded the alarm, running towards his mansion with the key to the medicine crates. Kenway eventually caught up with him and killed him, and Kenway was able to steal the medicine necessary for the curing of Nassau's population. However, the pirates' activities against the crown of Britain drew attention to the trouble caused by the pirate-held port of Nassau, and King George saw fit to send the pirate hunter Woodes Rogers to force the pirates out of their stronghold. Rogers was named Governor of the Bahamas, and he was given command of an expedition to subdue Nassau, with Commodore Peter Chamberlaine commanding his fleet.

British invasion
On 22 July 1715, the British ships Delicia, HMS Milford, HMS Rose, and five other Royal Navy vessels landed several companies of British Army troops on the island. The British announced their presence with a cannon barrage, and Rogers, Chamberlaine, and a few armed British soldiers headed to the Old Avery tavern to meet with the pirate Benjamin Hornigold, his officers Josiah Burgess and John Cockram, and Charles Vane. Rogers took the pirates to the fort, where he read aloud the King's pardon, which stated that any pirate who surrendered himself and his vessel to any governor or Royal Navy officer before the year's end would be cleared of all piracy charges and allowed to return to England penniless; he warned that any pirate who refused to do so would be promptly imprisoned and hanged without trial. The pirates were then allowed to leave the fort, and Hornigold, Burgess, and Cockram announced their intentions to take the pardon, while Vane and Rackham refused to submit to the king. Vane and Kenway devised a plan to escape Nassau and move to Kenway's stronghold on Great Inagua, involving the use of Rackham's schooner Royal Phoenix as a fireship. Kenway stole gunpowder from the British military, while Vane acquired the pine pitch. They combined the two to create a makeshift fireship with which they could break through the blockade.

Breaking the blockade
Commodore Chamberlaine, defying Woodes Rogers' orders, decided to use brute force to bring the pirates of Nassau to heel. Chamberlaine planned to attack and sink every pirate ship in the harbor to prevent any pirates from escaping, so Kenway followed a few British soldiers to their encampment, next to which Chamberlaine's man o' war was anchored. Kenway boarded the man o' war and assassinated Chamberlaine and another Royal Navy officer after jumping down from the main topsail and stabbing them both with his Spanish cutlasses. He proceeded to flee the area, escaping capture. Chamberlaine's death allowed for the pirates' plan to be put into motion, and Kenway, Rackham, and Vane sailed out of Nassau harbor aboard the Jackdaw as Royal Phoenix was sailed into the blockading man o' war HMS Princes Galley and the frigates HMS Tryton and HMS Oak. The explosion destroyed the three British ships, and the Jackdaw sailed past the blockade, sinking all pursuing ships. The pirate ship departed for Great Inagua, where it restocked before heading to North Carolina to meet up with Thatch.

Aftermath
Nassau was returned to British control as a result of the blockade, and the experimental pirates' republic was dissolved. The capture of Nassau led to a decline of piracy in the Caribbean, as the pirates were now deprived of a base, and many pirates accepted the King's pardon to either go into retirement or - in Hornigold's case - to become British-employed "pirate hunters". Great Inagua would become the pirates' new base, and Kenway would continue to launch pirating expeditions in the coming years.